The Center for Geographic Studies • California State University, Northridge

Citation:

Aether Vol. xii, x–x, July 2013

Abstract:

This paper explores the transition from ‘visible’ to ‘invisible’ modes of penal punishment
via the shifting spectacle of a heavily disciplined, corporeal incarceration. It is broadly
acknowledged that the emergence of prisons in Britain marked the disappearance of
punishment from the public eye. This paper argues that despite this physical distancing,
concerns over crime and punishment were displaced and translated into other realms
of society. This displacement has continued with the emergence of global media sources,
which deploy landscapes of incarceration as entertainment. In order to ground this
discussion, this paper focuses upon the manner in which television media allows for
a representation of British prisons by drawing upon the recent bbc sitcom The Visit.
By examining the implications of events within the programme, discussion reveals
a careful negotiation of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ identities and behaviours that, together,
render prisons an essential, visible, if particular and distinct, part of society as a whole